Traffic semaphore



March 23 1926.

A E ENGLISH TRAFFIC SEMAPHORE Filed March 24, 1923 Go NORTH PatentedMar. 23, i926.

. unites stares earner enema.

nna nsrELLn ENGLISH, or rnrnannnrnm, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRAFFIC SEMAPHORE.

Application filed March 24, 1923. Serial No. 627,268.

Toiall whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, ANNA Es'rnrmn Eno- Lrsl-r, a citizen ofthe UnitedStates, re-

siding in the city of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State ofPennsylvania,

intersections, andleading objects of the invention are to provideeffective traffic con- .trol bythe display of positive instructions toall persons approaching the intersection; to provide display apparatuswhich can be readily controlled and operated either manu-V ally orelectrically; and to provide appara- .tus winch is simple inconstruction, durable,

and readily manipulated and adjusted.

In its preferred form, my invention is embodiedfin a casing havingvertical walls forming sign boards with. directional in dicia thereon;shutters movable relatively tothe walls and having on one face thereofon the sign board proper and on the other.

face thereof directional indicia applicable to otherconditions oftrafiic, such latter 1ndicia being displayed when the shutters aresuperposed upon the indicia on the sign boards so as to conceal thelatter. The vertical walls ofthe casing are preferably made oftranslucent or transparent material and illuminated by a suitable lampor lamps within the casing as well as by lamps e2:- terior to the casingand supported by a canopy thereover so as to illuminate the directionalindicia upon the; walls and shut ters, the latter being preferablyhinged along the bottom edges of the casing.

The shutters maybe operated in any suitable manner, and are preferablyactuated by mechanism which operates certain of the shutters in onedirection while moving the other shutter in the opposite direction. Suchmechanism may be operated either manually or electrically.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment of myinvention. In the drawings, Fig. l is a side elevation of a semaphoreembodying my invention, the casing and shutters being shown in tranverse section; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation of the upper partof the semaphore at right angles to the view shown in Fig. 1; F ig.3 isa transverse sectional view 7 on the line 3-43 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 isa fragmentary side elevationof the casing in the position shown in Fig.l.

As illustrated in the drawings,. a base 1 has fixed thereto a shaft orcolumn 2 on which is supported a casing comprising the bottom 8, framemembers 4,' and vertical Walls 5 p referably of translucent ortransparent material providing fenestrations in.

the casing. A canopy 6 is supported by the frame 4 above the casing andis surmounted by an illuminated globe or beacon 7 Shutters 8 arehingedto thebottom 3 of the casing along opposite: edgesthereofyandshutters 9" are hinged to the bottom of the casing along opposite edgesthereof trans verse. to the shutters 8. i

.The shutters 8 have fixed thereto crank.

arms 8 to which are pivoted the curved ends of links 10 which areadjustably pivoted to one end of a slotted lever 11, the lat-.

ter having a shaft 12 fulcrumed in the bracket 13 on the column 2.additional directional-indicia to be displayed. in conjunction with thedirectional'lndicia The shutters 9 have fixed thereto crank arms 9 towhich are pivoted the bent. ends of links 14.- adj ustably pivoted onthe lever 11 on the opposite side of'its fulcrum from the connection ofthe links 10 therewith.

A link 15 has one end pivotally connectedwithan end of the lever 11 andits other end pivotally connected with "an end ofthe cylindrical sleeve01' collar 16 on the column 2,. thiscollar being provided with anoperating handle 17. Alink 18 has an end pivotally connected with theopposite end of the lever 11 and its'other end connected with a collar19 sleeved on the collar 16 and vided with the operating handle 20.

A lever arm 21, fixed to the shaft 12 of the leverv I1, is connected bya link 22 with an eccentric stud or pintle 23 on a revoluble disk 2 fsleeved upon the shaft 25 of an electric motor 26 supported on a hanger27 fixed to the casing bottom 3. A disk 28 is splined on the'shaft 25and has fixed thereto bars 28, terminating in a collar 28?.

Governor balls 29 have arms pivoted to the with suiiicient speed tocause the balls 29 to operate the clutch formed by the parts 28, 30andQd. The rotation of the motor may be controlled by an ordinary threeswitch circuit, one of the switches-being located on the column 2 orother convenient position for manipulation by the traiiic controlofticer,.

another of the switches being positioned so as to be operated by afinger 31 on the disk 24 as the stud 23 approaches its highest p0-sition, and the third switch being positioned so as tobe operated by thefinger 31 as the stud 23 approaches-its lowermost position.

Where the intersectionto be controlled'is formed by two streets atrightangles to one another, the casing will be provided-with four fenestratedwalls forming a parallelogram, and'when the intersection is formed bystreets approaching at unequal angles the casing walls will be made toconform with the angles of the; intersectingstreets.

\Vhen used-at a'right angle intersection, the translucent wallfacingtoward thewest will be marked .NGo--S and the; shutter face which isvisible from the west when the shutter is'lowered will be marked Orhalt, as shown in Fig. 2. The other face of this shutter, which isvisible from the west when the shutter is raised, will be marked fGoeast] The translucent wall of the casing facing towards the east willbemarked S-'-G'o-'-N, andthe shutter face visible from theeast whentheshutter is lowered will be marked Or halt? The face of the shuttervisible from the east when elevated. willibe marked Go west.

The translucent wall" visible from 1' the south will be markedWGoE andthe side ofthe loweredshutter visible from-the south will be marked Orhalt The other side of this shutter will be marked Go north, asillustrated in Fig. 1. The fenestrated wall and the face of thecorresponding lowered shutter facing the north will be marked move bymanipulating the handles 17 and 20, (or by throwing the switch to startthe motor 26) torock the lever 11 through the respective connectingmechanisms. As the lever. 11 is-rocked to theposition shown in Fig. 1,itacts through the links 10 and'arms 8 to rotate the shutters 8 on theirhinges to their lowered position and simultaneously through the links 11 pulls upon the arms 9' to rotate the shutters 9 to their elevatedposition; l/Vhen through the action of the handles 17 and 20 (or theoperation of the motor. 26) tl1e lever 11 is rocked to the reverse ofthe position shown in Fig. 1, the shutters '8 are rotated'to theirelevated position through the pull of the links 10 on the arms 8 and theshutters 9are rotated to their lowered position through the; thrust ofthe links 14:011 the arms .9.

The semaphore is preferably illuminated. by a lamp 33 within thecasingand. the

lamps 34: supported'by the canopy 6, which;

may be provided with a: reflecting surface to throw the, illuminationupon. the casinglwalls and shutters.

Having; described my invention, I claim:

1; A traiiic semaphore. comprising a fenes trated caslng, shuttershinged-to. sald casing" ing having walls provided with directionalindicia, shutters hinged relatively to said' walls and superposablethereon, a fulcrumed lever, links connected with shutters aforesaid andwlth saidrlever onone side of said fulcrum, and links connected withshutters. aforesaid and withsald'lever on the-other side of saidfulcrum.

4.'A traiiic semaphore comprising a casing, shutters hinged alongthebottoms of' sides of sald casing, shutters hinged along the bottom ofsides of said casingitrans versely to the shutters first named, andmeans for operating said shutters.

5. A traffic sema ohorecomprisinga phi-- rality of signs, sh'ittershinged" relatively to said signs and superposable thereon, said shuttershaving directional indicia on both sides thereof, a canopy over'signs,and lights.

carried by said canopy illuminating said signs and shutters.

In testimony whereof Ihave hereunto set my name this 10th day of March,1923.

ANNA- ESTELLEv ENGLISH:

